After an eight-year break from acting, actor Daniel Day-Lewis made a grand comeback to the big screen with Anemone, which recently had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival. The film marks the directorial debut of his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, and he's the most excited about the seasoned actor's return to cinema, beating the crowd's enthusiasm.
Ronan, who co-wrote the script with his father, said, "I’m at a loss for words," addressing the crowd gathered at Lincoln Centre’s Alice Tully Hall. "It’s a privilege beyond words to be here with everyone tonight," he added.
Anemone, set in Northern England, follows two brothers who reunite after a long time. The two share a complex and mysterious history that makes them forge a "fraught, if occasionally tender relationship," according to the official description from the New York Film Festival. Sean Bean and Samantha Morton also star in the film in important roles, along with Samuel Bottomley and Safia Oakley-Green.
Speaking to Variety, Daniel described working with his son as "easy", while Ronan said he had a "very intuitive" working relationship with his father. "Over the years, since Ronan was very, very small, we’ve worked on a lot of different things together. There was always a great ease in each other’s company, and this was really an extension of that. It was just a bigger toy box to play in," Daniel said, as his son added, "It was a real sense of play and freedom."
When it came to the casting for Ray’s estranged brother, Bean came to mind as a natural choice for the duo. But Bean's bonding with Daniel for the film was interesting, or as the former puts it, "It was a great way to explore a situation," as the two bonded over "pints of Guinness and whisky." Bean added. "We got along very well, and that was crucial to me to get into the story of two brothers."
An Academy Award-winning actor, Daniel Day-Lewis' last performance was in The Phantom Thread. At the time of his retirement following The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis did not explain why he quit acting, instead deciding to term it a personal choice. For his last film, he received his sixth Oscar nomination. So far, the actor has won not one but three Oscars for the films My Left Foot (1989), There Will Be Blood (2007), and Lincoln (2012). It is not certain whether he will continue acting after Anemone or not.